Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A child’s success in life, to a great extent, is dependent on the mental health. However, for children with physical disabilities like hearing loss, depression and anxiety can strike without warning.

Both biological and psychological factors can trigger negative feelings in a hearing-impaired child. Unpleasant experiences are often viewed by them as a personal failing. They start to think that whatever is happening is because they are unintelligent or incapable. Therefore, it is extremely important that such confused or inaccurate thinking patterns are contained before they become deep-seeded.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for kids is a combination of psychotherapy and behavioral therapy treatment, which helps a child to solve problems and boost happiness by changing the way they think and behave. One major advantage of cognitive therapy is that it tends to be short-term, and success can usually be achieved with 5-10 months of treatment.

At Listening Ears, we have developed cognitive evaluation and behavioral assessment procedures specific to children with hearing loss. An accurate cognitive evaluation helps to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a child and allows therapists to zero down on the specific cognitive impairments which need to be tackled. This helps to get the child ready for mainstreaming.

Cognitive evaluation and CBT are also important because studies have found a possible link between hearing loss and neurocognitive disorder (NCD). In such conditions, the brain’s ability to reason and retain information is affected. Since the diagnosis of NCD contains several auditory-verbal components, hearing loss in a child can often compromise the results. A well-trained and vigilant audiologist, on the other hand, can find out if hearing loss is masking the presence of NCD.

The emphatic cognitive behavioral therapists and audiologists at Listening Ears are trained to teach a hearing-impaired child useful and practical strategies that they can use in everyday life – even after the treatment has finished.